The landmark study to analyse the dangers of heading a football is due to begin on April 12.

As revealed by Sportsmail, academy and women players at Liverpool and Manchester City are spearheading research into how heading the ball in different ways — comparing short and long distances — impacts the brain.

The findings, due to be presented to football’s key decision-makers by the end of this season, will help determine what, if any, limits need to be introduced for training.

Players will wear PROTECHT mouthguards, which provide data on the force and frequency of blows to the head.

After the study was launched last week, dental fittings have begun with the teams for the specially-made gumshields.

Experts say 20 headers per session is a suitable maximum, with a minimum of 48 hours between these sessions — a key demand of this newspaper’s campaign to tackle football’s dementia problem.